Condition Hüman
Pledge drive | Producer = Chris "Zeuss" Harris | Last album = Queensrÿche (2013) | This album = Condition Hüman (2015) | Next album = | Misc = }} Condition Hüman is the fifteenth studio album by American progressive heavy metal band Queensrÿche. It was released on October 2, 2015 through Century Media. It is the second studio album recorded with vocalist Todd La Torre, after Geoff Tate was fired from the band and gave up the rights to the name after a two-year lawsuit regarding the rights to the Queensrÿche brand was settled. Background Queensrÿche released their eponymous album Queensrÿche on June 26, 2013, to positive and raving reviews, garnering praise for returning to Queensrÿche's signature sound, La Torre's vocal abilities, and the fact that the album could stand proud among the band's classics from the 80s and early 90s. The main point of criticism was the short length of 35 minutes. Songwriting Even before Condition Hüman's self-titled predecessor Queensrÿche was released, La Torre revealed in March 2013 that since the band is constantly writing, they are already starting to accumulate material for a follow-up album. The band had a mindset of: "Let’s just put out these songs, keep working and put out more material." guitarist Michael Wilton explained the vision for taking ample time to craft at the songs by saying: "We don’t want to have an album with filler songs. We want every song to be quality. I’d rather have a 35 minute badass album, than a 50 minute long with a bunch of epic songs that really shouldn’t have been on the CD." Wilton and drummer Scott Rockenfield had written songs for albums such as American Soldier and Dedicated to Chaos that the band's former lead singer Geoff Tate discarded in favor of songs he wrote with outside writers such as Jason Slater. These backlog demos were not used on Queensrÿche, because of the band's renewed inspiration and a desire to start off fresh. Furthermore, the writing sessions for Queensrÿche had resulted in at least 17 potential demos. Several of these songs didn't make it onto the record, as they weren't quite finished, and time constraints prevented them from maturing in time, but they would be featured on the follow-up album. In addition to the existing demos, the band also wrote new songs for the album, which they announced in many interviews from very early on. In June 2013, Wilton remarked that everybody has "a lot of great ideas" and that they "definitely have ample material" to work with for the next album. La Torre expanded on this on June 20, 2013, by saying: "Michael Wilton just sent me a new song yesterday; last night I was recording my guitar for a new song that I have here; Parker Lundgren just completed a new song on a structure that he has, and Scott Rockenfield actually has another song that he is working on, and the framework of the song should be presented for the rest of us to listen to (...) and that’s when the actual collaboration on the songwriting begins." In March 2014, La Torre explained that the band members are still writing songs individually or with one or more other band members before presenting them before the group, adding: "I think the last count we were at was, I don't know, 13 or 15 songs, you know. Some of them were pretty much complete, others were halfway, some of them were just ideas that we can build on." Since La Torre resides in Florida, his visits to the other band members in Seattle combine rehearsals with songwriting, demoing and pre-production. A timeframe was first mentioned in April 2014, when Wilton said the band will be "going into the studio later this year in between touring to begin the next album". On May 5, 2014, a press release was released through Wilton's Facebook page, entitled: "A Reinvigorated Queensrÿche Starts the Writing Process for Their New Album, Tentatively Due Early Summer 2015 via Century Media Records". A pledge drive announcement indicated that recording would likely take place between December 1, 2014 and February 28, 2015, and that the album will be released in late spring or early summer 2015.PledgeMusic (2014). Queensrÿche - New Album: PRE-ORDER the new album from Queensrÿche. Plus bonus content and special packages. Retrieved on November 7, 2014. The date was later pushed to fall 2015, with the drums first being recorded early March 2015. As was the case with the previous album, Condition Hüman was a collaborative effort with all five band members contributing to more than one track off the finished project. The songs "Eye 9" and "46° North", both written entirely by bassist Eddie Jackson, are the first non-instrumental songs released by the band that were written entirely by someone other than former guitarist Chris DeGarmo since Wilton wrote "Deliverance" for their 1984 debut album The Warning. Reception | rev2 = AllMusic | rev2Score = | rev3 = Artists and Bands | rev3Score = | rev4 = KNAC | rev4Score = | rev5 = Loudwire | rev5Score = favorable | rev6 = Music Enthusiast Magazine | rev6Score = favorable | rev7 = The Prog Report | rev7Score = favorable }} KNAC contributor Alan Yarborough awarded the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, writing that the band "definitely sounds reinvigorated" and praising many of the songs as "the best material I’ve heard from the band in a very long time, possibly dating back to the early days." Jeff Cornell of Loudwire noted the album goes "back to band's roots", citing the album's changing time signatures and progressive structures, among other present characteristics. Cornell called the album the band's best "in decades", as well as declaring it to be the band's heaviest offering. Additionally, he cited songs like “Guardian,” “Hellfire,” “Hourglass,” “Eye 9,” and the title track as material that would stand out to fans of the band's early material. The album debuted on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart at No. 5, selling 14,000 copies in its first week. Track listing ;Bonus tracks Personnel References Category:2015 albums